Out with the drone (Henderson Cliffs - Lake Coogee)

     Today was a short trip, just wanted to do something that I thought of a while ago when I first bought the drone. I regularly visit the cliffs for photos and I used to fish here when I was younger with my nephew, spent many mornings and nights here fishing and on 1 occasion we did an all-nighter, I have only had the drone for a couple of months and still not over confident of flying it over or near water. I only have two batteries for the Dji Spark, but I do have a couple more  on order plus some other accessories.  I only have around 24 to 26 mins flight time, so I put it up took a few videos and some photos. I launched it from the car park today, it was quite windy and I didn't want to fly it too far away from me just incase it got blown away, The wind was getting stronger so I opted to land it and head towards home, so I never managed to do what I wanted to do in the end it was basically up shoot and down again.

 

        After Taking a few photos from here I stopped off at Cul-De-Sac close to Lake Coogee hoping the wind was shelterd a little so it wasn't so strong I managed to put the drone up again snapped a couple photos as the higher I got the windier it seemed to be getting I quickly snapped the photos watching the drone slowly be blown away, I switched it to sports mode which was enough to get it back and land it. Only one photo of lake Coogee this time,

All images are Copyright Mark A. Gray – All rights reserved

Out with the drone (Henderson Cliffs - Lake Forrestdale)

     Today I wanted to put the drone up at a couple places that I have visited on a regular basis, for a different perspective than I normally do. I have only had the dji drone for about a week and still familiarising myself with it, I have been using another drone which has been great for flying practise but the image quality is really poor, sadly we paid more for the drone that has poor quality photo and video than I did for the Dji Spark as I bought the spark second hand. The differences between the 2 drones flight and image quality, the spark is way better. My first stop is Henderson Cliffs I took a few videos and photos and videos while I was here, eventually when I get the hang of things I would like to post some videos on You Tube as well, but that is a while away still need to learn to fly it properly and then do the editing and producing of the videos. So maybe in the future, there maybe some videos.

     I am currenly on the waiting list for a knee replacement as my mobility is not that great at the moment, I can still get on with everyday life and work and that, it is the bushwalking/hiking I miss, I can only walk for a ;little way brfore things start to hurt especially climbing up and down hills, I am planning while I am recovering from surgery and are unable to get out and about for 6 - 8 weeks, would be a perfect time to work out the video producing side of things and put some stuff on youtube.

     After playing around with the drone I also had a wander around with the camera, did really get anything that stood out so I headed off to Forrestdale Lake to get some aerial photos and videos from there, I will probably visit Forrestdale lake on a regular basis as it fills in the winter and then dries up as the summer arrives, at the end of spring  when the lake is almost dry you usually get the wading birds visiting for breeding season. Here is a few shots From Forrestdale Lake.

All Images Are Copyright Mark A. Gray -  All rights rteserved

Jarrahdale POW camp and Sullivan Rock

 Today My Daughter and I went for a drive in the Perth Hills, we took the daughters Jeep today which she recently bought and wanted to get some Practice in driving on gravel and Bush tracks, the road to the POW camp is not a bad road to drive on it just has a a few rough patches and a lot of corregations, still accessible via 2WD, we headed off about mid morning stopped at the shop to get some food and drinks for the esky, then we made our way to the Jarrahdale POW camp, as I have mentioned before I am starting to video our trips, which I have been doing for the last few trips but not publishing many I have put a few on Youtube, but they still need a bit of work, you can find some of them on the link below.

My Youtube Channel

Some of the footage is from a poor quality Dashcam, and some I have been using my phone, my daughter has bought me a DJI Osmo for my birthday which is in a few days so my next trip I will be putting it to use, still working on the videos hopefully things will get better as I progress.

Here are a few Pictures from The POW Camp   

After a short walk around taking a few photos and a test flight with the drone we headed towards Sullivan Rock, I haven't been there for a very long time I recall riding there one day on my Push Bike from the POW camp it was around a 16km return journey. On our way to the Rock we came across this little fella crossing the road.

We patiently waited for him to cross the road well until we were able to go around him without running him over, arriving at Sullivan Rock mid afternoon we went for a walk on top of it. I have mainly video footage from Sullivan Rock which is on Youtube

Here is a few Photos from Sullivan Rock 

After coming back from our walk on the rock we headed for home

All Images are Copyright Mark A. Gray - All rights reserved

Serpentine Falls

 Today The wife and I had the day off together, so we decided to go out for lunch and go for a drive to Serpentine Falls, we actually haven't been there for quite some time, we have been to the dam on several occasions, but not the actual falls. We stoppped at Jarrahdale for Lunch at the Jarrahdale PO kitchen great service and good food I ordered the Bahn-mi and the wife a cheeseburger meal, we both enjoyed it.

My lunch 

The Wifes Lunch

After finishing our meals we took the long scenic drive to the Falls, there is a pay station at the falls now, there used to be a ranger or someone manning the little office at the entrance to the falls there is a $17 dollar entrance fee at the time I made this post. We went for a walk to the falls and back and hung around for a little while then headed off home through Serpentine and the back roads.

Here is a few snaps from The Falls and Picnic Area 

All Images are Copyright Mark A. Gray - All rights reserved
 

Daytrip to West Dale, Brookton, York on the hunt for Canola Fields and Wildflowers

     Today my wife Karen and I both had days off from work so we decided to do a trip to go and look for wildflowers and have a look at the Canola fields as they are in bloom at the moment, we left around 11 am maybe a little earlier fueled up and headed off, driving through Roleystone along the Brookton highway keeping an eye out for wildflowers our first stop was West Dale at a lookout over looking Canola Fields, there is views almost all the way around except from the way we came. 

Here are a few snaps from the West Dale lookout

    I have recently Bought a cheapish drone to have a play with I hope to buy a better one in the Future the picture quality is not great on it but it is ok for viewing on smaller devices, I had hoped to put it up and take a couiple aerial shots but it was quite windy and I am still learning to fly it. I have also decide to take video footage of our trips, using my Phones and Cameras  I will put a link to it at the end of this post, please be gentle with me as I have no idea what I am doing yet very early stages, I used footage from my dashcam as well but again quality not great will upgrade at a later date.

    After spending around 10 mins or so Taking some Photos and Videos we headed of towards Brookton stopping a couple of times so I could get some photos of the Canola fields on the way some were in bloom and some were not.

 

    We arrived at Brookton to have a stretch and then we went for a drive to find something for lunch we had planned for a Pub Lunch at Brookton but neither were serving food today so we decided to try Beverley. 

A couple Snaps from Brookton Train Station which looks like its not in operation now all fenced off

  

    As we drove through Beverley (we didn't stop here today but have done in the past) looking for something for lunch didn't really fancy anything there, so we decided to go for lunch at York instead. As we arrived we went to find somewhere for lunch, we decided on Settlers House, we had a great meal, fast service, nice food and the atomosphere was great we really enjoyed it. 

Here are a few snaps from York  

  

It was getting late in the afternoon so we went for a drive to the river just for the purpose of  taking some videos of me going over the suspension bridge and then we headed for home we stopped at another Canola field on the way, and then made our way home overall I think the trip was around 330 kms or so.

Here is a link to the video this was the first time trying this so please be gentle I am still learning its a little shaky in some places I used my DSLR handheld for the videos in this trip. 

Fell free to add any suggestions in for future posts. The video is just under 8 mins

Daytrip to York Video

All Images are Copyright Mark A. Gray All Rights Reserved